Phillip Cosby, whose organization is pushing restrictions on nude dancing and other adult businesses in Kansas, says the benefits of a similar law passed in Missouri in 2010 have been varied.

"My observation is three things happening in Missouri," Cosby said, noting it was less than a year ago that the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the law. "Some have complied, and that's directly linked to local law enforcement; some have ignored the law, and that’s also linked to local law enforcement; and some are moving operations to Kansas."

But a member of the Kansas City, Mo., police force says enforcing the new laws isn’t as easy as Cosby makes it sound.

Sgt. Brad Dumit, who heads the Kansas City Police Department's vice squad, said the Community Defense Act pushed by Cosby's American Family Association of Kansas and Missouri has in some ways made regulating strip clubs more difficult.

Kansas City ordinances previously required "adult entertainment" permits, both for the nude dancers and the places where they danced. But Dumit said his department can no longer require such permits because, under state law, exotic dancers perform in what amounts to skimpy swimwear.

“With the new law you really can’t define any of them as cabarets because they aren’t dancing nude or semi-nude," Dumit said. "You’d be wearing the same thing you wear to the pool. I mean, wearing a bikini and dancing, that could happen at a regular bar.”

Dumit said Missouri lawmakers didn’t appropriate any funds to help him enforce the new mandates.

Cosby said enforcing some of them, notably a ban on semi-nude bars operating after midnight, requires very little resources. He also said law enforcement agencies will see savings because they will no longer have to deal with the ancillary crimes related to drugs and prostitution that "sexually oriented businesses” attract.

"The demonstrated and court-recognized cost does lie in the 'negative effects' of SOBs on communities," Cosby said. "A drain on local 'public safety' resources."

But Judith Hanna, a University of Maryland anthropology professor who has testified in more than 150 strip club-related court cases, says there is no scientific evidence to support Cosby's assertion that the clubs are negatively affecting Kansas communities.

"The alleged purpose to 'regulate sexually oriented businesses in order to promote the health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of Kansas' and not to restrict adult materials or entertainment that are free expressions protected by the First Amendment has no basis in reality," Hanna said.

Hanna authored a book called “Naked Truth: Strip Clubs, Democracy and the Christian Right.” An Amazon.com description of the book says it reveals how right-wing Christians are "using plausible-sounding but factually untrue arguments about the harmful effects of strip clubs" in an effort to turn America into a "Bible-based theocracy."

Hanna has argued that exotic dancing is a form of art protected by the First Amendment, an argument that others used last year to scuttle an attempt by Cosby's organization to have a bare-breasted bronze statue removed from the Overland Park Arboretum.

Still, Cosby maintains that the threats strip clubs pose are real and Missouri's highest court recognized them after hearing evidence.

Regardless of what effect such establishments have, Dumit says banning them hasn’t quelled the demand for nude dancing or ended the practice, at least not in Kansas City.

“I understand the premise of what they’re doing, but I think in some aspects we backed ourselves into a corner and made it harder to regulate it,” Dumit said.

When dancers and clubs were licensed, Dumit said his officers knew where the activity occurred, and it was easy to monitor. Now he says more women are offering such services online or in underground establishments, which are less secure for them and patrons.

“The backroom stuff probably escalated because of this," Dumit said.

Dumit said his biggest frustration with the new regulations is "you could kind of gear it in ways that would be enforceable," but no lawmakers consulted him on how to do that before they passed the law.

Cosby said that isn’t the case in Kansas, where he has lined up one "very experienced police chief" who is eager to testify in support of the bill, pending approval from his city manager.

The bill also has the support of local law enforcement.

"I have been contacted on this by proponents," Topeka Police Chief Ron Miller said in an emailed statement, "and support their efforts to enact the Community Defense Act."

Statewide law enforcement groups have yet to take a position on the bill, though. Former Topeka Police Chief Ed Klumpp, who lobbies for several such groups, said adult businesses may attract ancillary crimes, but they aren't unique in that regard.

"You have those around any type of business where you have alcohol," Klumpp said. "That's just part of the nightclub business to some degree."

As far as Cosby's claims of Missouri club owners switching to the more friendly climate of Kansas, Phillip Bradley says he just doesn't see it. Bradley, who lobbies on behalf of adult businesses in Kansas, has his finger on the industry's pulse.

“I would ask him where and which ones," Bradley said. "Because to my knowledge there are no new adult clubs in Kansas since the Missouri law passed. As a matter of fact there are less clubs in Kansas each year. The Internet is driving this industry out of business.”

Bradley said that if strip clubs were truly damaging communities he would be "the first person to stand up and say let’s find a solution.” But he said neighboring businesses rarely complain, most owners have good relationships with law enforcement, and most clubs have tight, security including cameras, bouncers and strict identification checks.

Cosby and other proponents will have a chance to present evidence to the contrary with a House committee hearing on HB 2054 currently scheduled for Feb. 14. Their chances for a full House vote appear questionable.

“It’s not high on my priority list," House Speaker Ray Merrick said of regulating topless clubs. "I am not making decisions for people about whether they go to those places or don’t go to them. Individual liberty, I guess you could call that. I want to work on jobs and the economy and focus on the economic issues in the state and how we can make those things better. All these little periphery things just take away from that.”

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules of
civility. Posts and comments do not reflect the views of this site.
Posts and comments are automatically checked for inappropriate
language, but readers might find some comments offensive or
inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the
"Flag as offensive" link below the comment.

I have seen this man testify before our legislature. He has notebooks full of pseudo-studies and irrelevant facts - if they are facts. His crusade is nothing more than morality pressure and in reality has nothing to do with property values and the so-called secondary effects of adult entertainment. His is the self-styled "American Family Association." What does that say about his true purposes?

I challenge the man to produce a single proven fact that adult entertainment in the form of gentlemen's clubs has ACTUALLY had any property value effects or secondary effects IN KANSAS. I don't think we need morality preachers telling us what our laws should be, but there are plenty of contrary views from around the country.

I found myself representing some gentlemen's clubs (full disclosure), and know they employ dozens of people and pay millions of dollars in various taxes. The ones I know are responsible citizens with drug free establishments that do not tolerate crime of any sort, including prostitution. These are not dens of iniquity.

Mr. Cosby has been interfering in Kansas for quite some years trying to get us to believe in his beliefs. Mr. Cosby, butt out.

Since the presidential study on pornography by Ronald Reagan in the 1980's (please read Merriam) serious scholarship has concluded that pornography is corrosive to the healthy development of children's sexuality and may promote domestic violence and other forms of criminality.

There is absolutely no evidence that businesses trafficing in pornography strengthen the family, general social and institutional life of any community.

The law referred to in the article may or may not be difficult to enforce. Whoever said that combating evils within our society would be easy?

What is baffling to me is the logic employed by Mr. Marso to use Judith Hanna in his article? Now that decision obviously sought out a real balanced voice on this topic - not!

And, when did Speaker Merrick come to believe that there is no connection between prosperity and morality? I thought he was a social and a fiscal conservative - perhaps not. Close curcuit to Speaker Merrick - all efforts to bring "prosperity" to Kansas without preserving and promoting a moral way of life will come to nothing. What meaning does prosperity have without also prospering the human spirit and the upward calling of self-discipline and self-denial?

Personally, I have no problem with nudity in general. I think that anyone with a healthy body image and lived a healthy childhood free of abuse can appreciate an erotic dance without experiencing an urge for violence as has been stated by Cosby. I personally think that strip clubs should be well lit (except during main stage performances) and have large numbers of staff to make violence less likely by the few who would commit it. The prude nature of many people leads them to believe that the only place one can appreciate sexuality is in their own bedroom with a person of the opposite sex. Reality proves otherwise.